CEO Fellowship is a 501c(3) nonprofit and its name stands for “Christian Executive Officers Fellowship”. The Fellowship was founded in Brentwood, TN (click here for map of current location ) in 2005 by Joe Greene. In the mid 1970’s, Joe was the President of Operations for Humana, which was the world’s largest hospital company at the time. It was then that he sensed God calling him to start his own company and run it on Christian principles. When Joe began to mention the idea to some of his Christian friends in the business world.
Not one of them supported him.
No one believed that you could run a company based on the principles in the Bible and have any real success. God made it clear to Joe that this was his calling and that he would not be truly happy unless he pursued it. In 1977, Joe started Health Management Associates and set about learning to run a company using the Bible as his primary business book. As the company grew, Joe implemented scripture as he learned it. When he read Proverbs 3:27, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act,” Joe decided it was time to buck the business world’s policy of paying bills 30-60 days after they are presented in order to maximize the interest on the money in the bank. He made it a policy at HMA that if the money was in the bank and a bill came in, that bill was to be paid immediately – not withholding good from the vendor who deserved it. One day, six to nine months after implementing this policy, one of HMA’s vendors paid a visit to their headquarters in Naples FL and asked to speak with Joe. They told him they had never done business with any company like HMA and that they were so impressed with their policies that they wanted to do as much business with HMA as possible!
Another example of a biblical principle that Joe learned during those years was that everything he did was to be done to the glory of God. To Joe, this meant that his company was his mission field. He was led by God to put together a Ministry Plan for his company. The Ministry Plan included several ways that the company would minister to its employees, customers and vendors. One such ministry was the annual Christmas party. One Christmas, Joe asked Bruce Wilkinson (Founder of Walk Through the Bible and author of The Prayer of Jabez) to speak to the 400 people at the festivities. Bruce shared his testimony and 12 people accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior at the company Christmas party!
In 2005 at the age of 73, God called Joe into another adventure. Joe knew it was time to pass on all that he had learned in his company to today’s Christian business leaders; and CEO Fellowship was born.
CEO Fellowship started as a weekly meeting of 12 men at the Brentwood Country Club. Leonard Isaacs came alongside Joe, forsaking his paid position with Fellowship of Companies for Christ, in order to get this new ministry up and running. Soon Joe asked Pastor Mike Glenn at Brentwood Baptist Church to consider sponsoring the group and the church and its missions department, led by Pastor Scott Harris, became strong supporters of the Fellowship, giving financially to the ministry and donating the use of their building for the weekly meetings. Not long afterward, Alex Harvey joined the team by volunteering to offer his tremendous talents of songwriting and leading worship. He would later be asked to serve as the official Music Director for CEO Fellowship, a position he takes very seriously, often writing new music each week for the Fellowship meetings. In 2007, Carla Ritz came on board as the Membership Services Director and was promoted to Chief Operating Officer in November of 2008. Fast forward now to any given Friday morning in 2008 and you will find an average of 120 men and women, of all races and all Christian denominations, gathering for a time of teaching, worship and fellowship. Joe teaches occasionally and guest speakers cover the implementation of biblical principles in business from their realm of experience as well. More Chapters of CEO Fellowship are now “in the works” all around Middle TN and beyond.
At a 2007 CEO Fellowship meeting, Joe asked the 60 men and women present to write down the total number of employees, customers and vendors they came in contact with on a regular basis. That number indicated their company’s direct sphere of influence. Then he asked them to multiply that number by 3 to include the families of each of those individuals; that number comprised the company’s total direct and indirect influence. When each of the numbers from the companies represented were added together the total impact was 2,424,000 people. That is why CEO Fellowship exists. The men and women today who run companies have tremendous influence in the marketplace. The CEO Fellowship exists to teach these leaders to view their company as their mission field and to equip them to run profitable companies based on biblical principles.
CEO Fellowship Mission Statement:
Business leaders changing the world through Jesus Christ.
CEO Fellowship Vision Statement:
Advancing the kingdom of God by equipping & encouraging Christian business leaders to operate their businesses on Biblical principles. This is accomplished through teaching, fellowship, prayer, mentoring, accountability and example.
CEO Fellowship Core Values:
God wants to be glorified in all aspects of a Christian’s life, including business, and has provided principles for success as illustrated in the Bible.
The Bible is God’s knowledge and wisdom for effectively and efficiently serving vendors, employees and customers.
Jesus is the best mentor of effective personal and organizational leadership.
Every business should be Christ Centered and Vision Driven.
Christian executives should pray for and encourage one another.
